I was chatting with a colleague recently. She had just quit a job at a law firm because the boss was crazy and horrible to work with. She also commented that there is “complete turnover in the firm every year.”

That got me to thinking. What does THAT cost?

Aside from a happier workplace with more innovation and the tribal knowledge that accumulates when employees actually stay with a company, does it save money to keep employees?

Yes, it does. Let’s read from the Wall Street Journal:

“Integrated reporting is in its early stages in the U.S., but German software giant SAP AG released its first full integrated report in March, combining traditional accounting benchmarks with newer metrics on things like greenhouse-gas emissions, research and development “intensity” and staff turnover.

SAP reported, for example, that its operating profit is helped or hurt by about €62 million, or more than $80 million, by each percentage-point change in its employee retention rate.

‘There’s a lot of support for meaningful and robust HR metrics for use inside organizations,’ says Timothy Bartl, of the HR Policy Association.”